A Surprising Boom for Russian Art

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CreditCreditLaurent Cilluffo

By Stephen Heyman

Oct. 8, 2014

Despite the collapse of the ruble and international sanctions targeting some of Russia’s wealthiest citizens, the market for Russian art is at its highest level since 2008, according to a new report from the consulting firm Deloitte. At Sotheby’s sales of Russian paintings in London this June, the house raised £23.8 million, or about $38.1 million, and sold more lots over £1 million than at any other Russian sale in its history. Christie’s also set records, bringing in £24 million, its highest-earning Russian summer sale ever.

Emily Kodama, Sotheby’s assistant vice president for Russian paintings, said she had seen no discernable negative impact on the international auction market because of Russia’s current political and economic situation. Quite the contrary, she said that wealthy Russians bidding in London have shown new enthusiasm for works by Russian artists like Kazimir Malevich, Nicolai Fechin and Varvara Stepanova. “We’re finding regardless of whatever sociopolitical situation is going on in the world, if you have a great property, people are willing to pay a high price for it,” said Ms. Kodama, who added that she expected similarly strong results for Sotheby’s next Russian sale in London on Nov. 24 and 25. (London is the capital of the international market for Russian art, with Sotheby’s and Christie’s holding twice-yearly sales there, along with the specialty auction house MacDougall’s.)

While avant-garde and Constructivist artists from the 1920s are enjoying new highs, more contemporary Russian painters remain marginalized, with artists born after 1950 representing only about five percent of the market for modern and contemporary Russian art, according to the research firm ArtTactic. Ms. Kodama said that, recently, Russian buyers have been interested in Russian émigré artists, including Fechin, who lived in the United States, and Alexandre Jacovleff, a neoclassicist painter who spent years in France.

The turmoil in Russia has affected the domestic art world, however. A weak local market was among the reasons cited for last month’s cancellation of Art Moscow, one of the country’s longest-running art fairs. But while Russians may be reluctant to buy art at home, they have no hesitation about buying abroad. In London, Christie’s reported that 74 percent of the buyers at its last Russian art auction were Russian; at Sotheby’s, 75 percent of the buyers were from Russia or former Soviet Republics.